Summer Happenings

July was a busy month and Avery did her part to keep us hopping. Being 2 is challenging, but so fun too. It's almost like having a mini teenager. Avery just oozes with a wild personality. She cracks me up with her answers to questions and silly antics.
We've spent a lot of time swimming and I think Avery is part fish. I've never seen a child so small hold their breath and swim underwater like she does. She frequently tells me "No Mommy, get away - I do it!". She prefers to swim without arm swimmies or a lifejacket. Talk about heart attack city for Mom!
This weekend we went to the zoo with Daddy. It was a first and she LOVED it. The cat house and the monkeys were huge hits. When she saw a baby monkey and it's mommy swinging from vines she screamed "Hi, Hi, Hiiiiiii - monkey, you swinging!!!" then she ordered the mommy monkey to share it's food with the baby. "Share, share now monkey". When we was the Rhinos (that were sleeping) she couldn't grasp why they were sleeping in the "Eeeeeww ucky mud!"
We found a great new place to play. Go Play Cafe is loads of fun. It is like Discovery Zone and has all the fun tunnels and slides. We went with some friends and can't wait to go back. My knees were sore and I now know I'm old, but hey - I'm young at heart.
Well, that's all for now. Avery is raring to go, so I better be too!

So let's see... We are just home from a trip east to visit our Russia travelling buddies. We had an amazing time and Avery made fast friends. The girls were just the cutest playing together. Avery got to pet her first sing ray - apparently it was "cold" or so she said.
The "terrible 2s" are in full effect, with fits and "I do it! by myself" abounding. It's fun though. I though she talked a lot before, but now, now - let's just say it is never ending. I can understand her much better now too. She is a bundle of energy and opinion and
it makes for some very interesting days.

Swimming is a huge hit, although I wish she had at least some fear of the water. Not my girl, she will even go off the diving board. All day she says "Jumping, jumping, jumping!" I get tired just watching her.

Two Years Old ~ Big Stuff!

I'm a little late in updating, but 2 yr. olds sure do keep you on your toes. June 4th was Avery's birthday and we had a big party the day before. She was pretty shy, I know, can you imagine our little social jabber-jaws shy, but all that attention was totally new for her.
She has totally changed overnight. No more baby. We've got full sentances, demands, and opinions out the wazoo. Oh, and she is now a Dora the Explorer fan. In fact at our local amusement park all the attractions in "kiddie land" are Nick Jr. themes, when she saw the big statue of Dora, let me just say I though she was going to climb it! DOOORWAAH!!!!!!!! Silly thing!
Avery is doing great on the potty, but we really aren't pushing it. It's very nice to not change a diaper every time I turn around those (especially the poopies).
She is so maternal lately. Very into her babies. We got her a stroller for her birthday and she pushes the babies around, feeds, them, tells me "Shhhh! night, night baby!", and "Here ya go baby!" "That's right!" It is just the cutest thing to watch.
In just a few weeks we are headed up east to visit our dear friends that kept us sane during our long stay in Russia! Very excited about that! Since Avery didn't do so well on our last little trip, we are talking it up as much as we can. She says, "I go Maaahk (Mark), see Kasseee (Kathy), pay Marta (play with Tamara)". I think she'll do fine. If only we can get her to say Tamara's name correctly. So Kathy, Mark - if your reading this, when Ave asks for Marta, she isn't nuts.
She loves the pool, but being the independant spirit she is, safety is not a factor. On the first day of setting up her little pool, she dove in head first and swam up to the top. As you can see from the picture above, no swimmies for this kid!
I had great aspirations for weight gain by the 2 yr. mark. We were shooting for 22 lbs. It was a week late, but she made it! Bottom line is, she's just a bean pole. Her teen years will be glorious! Oh yeah, and Little Miss Vain, says "I'm GORGEOUS!" And if I do say so myself, she's right!